Twenty Years Ago.
Southern Continent, Varisus, Area 2
The rain came down in cold, diagonal sheets, turning the pulverized asphalt into a slippery, treacherous mess. The area was cordoned off by massive, reinforced steel barricades, illuminated by the frantic, strobing lights of the National Exterminator Agency's emergency vehicles.
At the center of the exclusion zone, hovering a few feet above a massive crater, was a bruised-purple, violently swirling tear in reality. A Three-Star loop Gate.
"Get your heavy, uneducated hands off my equipment right this second, or I swear to the gods I will requisition your squad's entire budget for the next fiscal year!"
The voice belonged to a woman, and it cut through the howling wind and the deafening roar of the gate with authority.
Erin Volter yanked her modified spatial-resonance scanner out of the hands of a heavily armored B-Rank Exterminator.
